Happy Birthday To Me

Today some 44 years ago a beautiful woman named Juliet brought a baby into this world and named her Alice. But the baby Alice had a father named Richardt, who was more excited than your average dad. Simply because both parents were trying to conceive for a few years.

So they raised this new baby with the values, courage and wisdom enough to make her into a young lady, who grew up to be a rebel, a renegade, an activist, a friend, a lover, a mother, a wife, a single parent and the apple of her children’s eyes.

She has been a sports agent, a publicist, a manager, a confidant, a mentor a volunteer and a friend. And yes that “she” would be me. So today when I celebrate my achievements, I look back on all my experiences and celebrate my failures especially. Reason being that those failures have thought me courage, wisdom and perseverance.

Today, I thank god for all my friends throughout each walk of my life that I have taken, those who I have met as a volunteer, as a professional or through means like sports or social networking, I thank you for the all things that you have passed on to me. I thank you for being human enough to care and to share.

I reflect, recall and reshape my future according to my failures, not my successes. I revive my soul to be open enough to tolerate things that human nature has not allowed me to accept. And I challenge my inner being to continue to put out the love and realness I have managed to cultivate over the last years.

For the men, I have loved, for the ones who have loved me back, I thank you. For those who are still not older enough to be old enough, I thank you too. For the men who are my friends, I thank you for keeping it real, when my ego gets in front, for my son I thank you for trying your best to be the man I have raised.

For my girlfriends and all the women who have made a mark on my life I thank you. For my beautiful daughter who challenges me and my way of thinking, I thank you – for loving me and for teaching me that you are different from your mommy.

My life is very involved with certain causes, like heart diseases, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, children and other human rights and I truly hope that I will always donate my time and efforts for these missions. Today, I am truly grateful – THANKS TO ALL AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.